Funeral For a Friend
by Spike868
Summary: Exactly as the title says. Angel and Spike have to bury someone close to them.


Funeral For a Friend

Summary: Buffy dies and Angel and Spike are left to bury her.

Author's Note: This little idea came to me while I was listening to some of my Good Charlotte songs. It ran through my mind at the same time as one where Spike kills Riley… but I didn't know if that would work. I might write it… does anyone like the sound of it? Well, on with this story anyway. It is as the title and summary say, this is simple Buffy dying and the guys burying her.

Angel and Spike picked the best possible day for their beloved's funeral. It was cloudy and overcast, but not raining, meaning they could hold the service during the day. It was the middle of winter, and it seemed like the perfect day, but was in fact the worst day because Buffy had just died.

And of course, the two vampire ex-lovers of the one and only Slayer mourned for her like there was no tomorrow. Even though they had both realised long ago that there was no chance either one would ever be with the girl of their dreams, they couldn't give her up. They met other people, or at least, Angel did. Spike simply couldn't love anyone else. For him there was Drusilla, but she was evil and he was not. But also, for him there would always be Buffy.

She told them that one day, when she was done doing everything she had to do, she would settle down with whoever she was meant to be with. It was only a matter of time, but time was something Buffy soon ran out of.

Without even realising how time flew by so fast suddenly Buffy was a mum. She had a beautiful daughter named Zoe, who turned out to be a potential Slayer in the next generation. Therefore she was born a Slayer, with no choice as to who she would become.

But she was not alone. Every ten years or so, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Faith and Andrew would begin the global search for the next generation of chosen ones. By that time they were several years old, maybe 4 or 5, and knew nothing of their responsibility or purpose in life.

But in time, they all learnt. They learnt what they had to do, and they were taught by only the best. The best Watcher's Council that ever existed was formed by Giles and the gang, and produced a whole new blend of Watcher's with duties to perform with each new Slayer. And after training, each Slayer was sent off with her Watcher to a country in the world where she was needed. In some cases, there was more than one Slayer in a country at a time. But often, news would reach the Council of a death. And when Buffy's came in, it rocked the gang. They couldn't believe it.

Buffy had been living with her 23 year-old daughter Zoe for a few months in Australia. An aging Buffy had just become a grandmother, with Zoe giving birth to a beautiful baby boy. She called him Joshua, and sadly Buffy was only able to spend about two months with him.

She was getting old, and even though she was still willing to perform her Slayer duties as the original Slayer, it was getting tough. She was become weaker and her bones more breakable. She had returned to Giles and the gang in England at the new Watcher's Council to be filled in on some details of something evil rising in Australia where her daughter and grandson were, and during the battle against that evil she nearly lost her life.

It was only just after that event, when she couldn't take it anymore. The stress was too much, and the workload was proving to be very difficult. Willow and Xander began trying to ease her back a little, her two aging friends doing everything they could for her.

But finally, at the age of 73, Buffy died. Giles, the ancient man that he was at this stage, broke down. He had way passed his mid-life crisis, thinking of it as the time when he first met Buffy back in high school. It was all those years ago, and the girl had fought this long. She'd fought in every apocalypse to date, and won. Nearly every year something new rose, probably about every 18 months. And she was always there, still fighting for what she'd always been led to believe was the reason she _should_ be fighting. The good fight.

When Spike and Angel heard the news, they were swinging through Ireland searching for an old friend of Angel's, or rather, a demon. They killed it and on their way through England decided to drop by the new Watcher's Council and see everybody. It had been about 30 years since the fight back in L.A. where Angel lost everybody. Spike had got away, and it took Angel 3 years to find his childe through the countries of the world.

He was in New York by the time Angel got to him, but eventually they were re-united. And from then on they stayed together. They fought evil together; starting up Angel investigations again with just the two of them, but of course letting Buffy and everybody over in England know what was going on.

But even they were unprepared for the news they received upon visiting the Council in 2054. When they arrived cheerfully and with warm hellos, they discovered that the love of their lives had just died. And with great sorrow, they mourned for her.

The last time Buffy died, Willow had visited Angel to tell him. He didn't mourn for her so much back then because he was not there to see her, but to look at her dead body now for just a moment was too long for him. And Spike was the same.

The two vampires broke down and cried for the loss of the one woman both of them loved with all their dead hearts. Giles, Willow, Xander, Andrew and Faith were all there and wept for the fallen warrior. Faith was now the only remaining original Slayer. When she died, the legend of the Slayer would soon become nothing more than that; a legend. With all of the original Slayers dead and only the new potentials born with their power, there was no fancy legend anymore. It just became life.

So when Buffy's funeral came around, everyone was there. Angel, Spike, Willow, Giles, Xander, Faith and Andrew. All of them joined together to celebrate a life lived to the full, not a life that was wasted. On her gravestone was a simple message from those who loved her, chosen specifically by Giles:

_HERE LIES THE WARRIOR OF THE PEOPLE._

_THE PROTECTOR, THE FIGHTER, THE SLAYER._

_HERE ALSO LIES THE GREATEST FRIEND IN THE WORLD._

Author's Note: Kinda cheesy ending, but you get that with deaths in Buffyverse. Things just have to be happy, or at least have a general happy theme towards the end. And considering what Buffy's last gravestone said (BELOVED SISTER, DEVOTED FRIEND, SHE SAVED THE WORLD A LOT) they probably weren't going to use as fancy terms used as I have for her "latest" death. But anyway, it makes it sound more like they're honouring her rather than just burying their friend. And before you ask, Willow is not going to resurrect Buffy again. This time she's dead for good because she's actually old now, and not needed so much because of all the other Slayers.


End file.
